“We are looking at clocking 30-35 per cent
annual growth from the Indian market,”
shared Friedbert Klefenz, President,
Bosch Packaging Technology. In an
exclusive interview, he talked about the
Company’s Vision 2020, maintaining the
position amongst the market leaders and
the plans to offer complete line solutions
for customers across global markets with
Mittravinda Ranjan on the side lines of
ACHEMA 2015 in Frankfurt, Germany.

Let us talk about the presence of Bosch Packaging
Technology in India and the recent joint venture
with Klenzaids.
Well, Bosch is a veteran in the Indian market and we
have been there for almost a century! We started our
manufacturing operations to offer packaging services
primarily for the pharma industry through a domestic
facility at Bangalore in 1995. Later in 2007, we moved
the manufacturing operations to a rented facility in
Goa and then we set up our own new manufacturing
facility in the year 2012 that was inaugurated by Mr
Manohar Parikar, Chief Minister of Goa.

The alliance with Klenzaids is our 2nd major move in
India and Bosch has acquired a 49 per cent share
of Klenzaids, an owner-managed company that
produces processing, packaging, and clean-room
technology for the global pharmaceutical industry.
By setting up the joint venture, the two partners aim
to extend their global reach, particularly in liquid
pharmaceuticals and packaging machines for cleanroom
environments.

What kind of growth are you looking for in the
Indian market now?
Globally, both solid and liquid segments of the
pharma and food industries are driving market growth
for packaging equipment significantly, and India is
one of the fastest growing markets. After Klenzaids
joins the venture, we are moving the solid and liquid
operations for the pharma industry to Mumbai while
food packaging will continue to operate from our
facility in Goa.

Our products and technologies have seen a strong
demand in the Indian market which includes domestic
production and also imports from our international
sites in Europe. India has always been an important
market for us and we have continued to clock around
11-13 per cent of growth year on year and maintained
a positive growth momentum, which is good. With
the new joint venture we are targeting an increase
in growth of 30-35 per cent which will include growth
from the imports from European facilities.

Since 2000, Bosch has carried out a series of
acquisitions to strengthen the portfolio globally.
Why was there a slowdown during the period
2008-10?
Bosch Packaging Technology is present in 119
countries with technical equipment, representatives,
subsidiaries and manufacturing facilities. After 2000,
we actively pursued acquisitions across the globe to
strengthen our global footprint. Yes, we did not pursue
any alliances during 2008-10 deliberately because
of market uncertainties due to the global meltdown.
Moreover, our primary target was to maintain the positive growth momentum, which our
team was able to achieve while many
companies were facing a tough time.

What are the various competitive
strategies you have maintained to stay
in the top rung across 119 markets?
I would say it is our technical competence
in solid and liquid packaging for the pharma
and food sectors; our constant endeavours
to improve existing technologies,
developing new technologies according
to market demands and a continuous focus
on customer satisfaction have enabled us
to stay ahead in the competition.

Until 2012, we were very active in solid
and liquid pharma, and food sectors, but
we have expanded our scope of services
to liquid food packaging which is also
showing significant growth. We acquired
Ampack Ammann - a German company
that produces machines for low germ and
aseptic filling of liquid and viscous food
into pre-formed cups and bottles; and this
year in January we took over a company
in Florida, USA, to further strengthen
our position.

We have continued to maintain high
quality standards across all technologies
i n d i fferent markets worldwide. We
believe that even small improvements are
important and put a strong emphasis on
research and development. A significant
amount of revenue is directed towards
R&D to improve existing and develop
innovative technologies.

We have also set up a strong network of
sales and after sales service hubs across
the globe to continue providing services
to our customers. For example in Africa,
over the last three years, we have opened
hubs in Egypt, South Africa, Nigeria and
Kenya and are covering the East, West,
North and South of the continent.

What are your thoughts on the Make
in India campaign announced by
Honourable Prime Minister of India, Mr
Narendra Modi?
It is a very novel initiative and a positive
step to further accelerate overall industrial
development in India. Bosch Packaging
Technology has been present in India
for a long time and we have never had
to face any issues in the past. But there
have been times when the industrial
peers have faced challenges to set up
their operations. With the newly acquired,
politically stable government coupled
with strong purchasing power, parity of
growing middle class, there is a lot of
interest across international companies
in the Indian market. In my view, this is
the right time for the Indian government to
implement reforms to attract investments
and be globally competitive.

Please share the charter of the Vision
2020 of Bosch Packaging Technology
and the role of the Indian market for the
growth of your organisation?
At the start of the new millennium, we
relooked at the portfolio and decided
on the direction we wanted to take for
future growth. In the last ten to twelve
years, we have significantly expanded
our technology and product portfolios
through in-house research and developed
activities as well strategic acquisitions,
as a result of which we, Bosch Packaging
Technology, witnessed strong internal and
external growth.

Two years back, we set up a small group
to rethink our growth strategy and come
up with ideas to realign our goals in
accordance with the need of the industries
we are serving. The Vision 2020 has set
the direction and defined the focused path
for our team. Bosch Packaging Technology
intends to be the preferred partner along
the value chain for our customers and
aims at providing complete line solutions
for customers in the pharma and food
industries across all regions.

As already stated, Indian operations are
very much an integral part of our global
growth strategy and the recent acquisition
is a testimony of our commitment to the
Indian market. India has a huge market
potential for all industries including ours
and we are expecting a growth rate of
30-35 per cent in the years to come.